He was feted with more than a full minute of thunderous ovation, with whistles and hooting and cheers, as he entered, and again at the end of his 30-minute address. He received long rounds of applause and a few standing Os while he spoke. The balconies seemed to be filled almost entirely with people who love him, and who applauded him at every turn.

Meade was there, and he confirms that. (And, by the way, we have some hot video that I'm working on processing right now.)

Here's the transcript of the speech. Meade describes the big standing ovation when the Governor said:

We must work together to bring our spending in line with reality. We were elected — not to make the easy decisions to benefit ourselves — but to make the difficult ones that will benefit our children and grandchildren.

We need a commitment to the future so our children don't face even more dire consequences than what we face today.

Meade says he joined the standing ovation at this point, and that Scott Walker looked at him and gave him: 1. a smile, 2. a nod, and 3. a wink. Meade was quite pleased about that!

"What's that you say? Oh, those people. The ones who sat sullen through the whole thing? Who never rose or applauded? You mean the Democrats.

"Yes, the Assembly Dems never quite got in the spirit of things. In fact, all 14 of the ones who were elected to the Senate were absent, off somewhere on vacation in sunny Illinois, getting tans and sipping pina coladas. And the ones from the Assembly who were present were such party poopers."

his budget "reduces all spending by $4.2 billion, or 6.7 percent, and decreases the structural deficit by 90 percent from $2.5 billion to $250 million – the lowest structural deficit in recent history.

I once held up a sign behind the Yankees bench that said "Slide Like Jeter" when Jeter was hurt from sliding the week before. Jeter happened to be at that game and came out of the dugout and wagged his finger at me.

former law student said ... UWLS will have to cut 10% of its tenured faculty. Still applauding?

Dear FLS: It's time for children like you to stop running things and let the grownups take over. One difference -- which you obviously won't grasp -- is that grownups will support sensible budget cuts even if it hurts their own narrow interests.

The noisy, sniveling children who have occupied the Capitol for the past several days have no conception whatever of that distinction.

"1. a smile, 2. a nod, and 3. a wink. Meade was quite pleased about that!"

Well, I hope this means that he's going to bring the both of you to California with him for the big Koch fete after this is all over.

And I certainly hope he won't just invite Meade.

Seriously, you and Meade are showing how much better local correspondents are. And you're neither one doing it with game playing rhetoric. It's photo journalism, letting people display their own words and images for the world to see, like we are there. No journalistic interference.

Peano--not sure what's wrong with you, but it seems you're the one acting like a child. These budget cuts proposed by Walker are far from anything that could even be considered remotely sensible. Granted, I'm guessing you don't live in WI, so your criticisms/praises are moot points anyways.

This is Walker giving a big "Fuck You" to education (especially the university) and a big thumbs up to lining the pockets of corporations. I know that he wasn't bright enough to make it through college, but that doesn't mean that he should punish the university for being one of the best public schools in the country.

And Althouse--your blog is officially a joke. I knew you were conservative, but your praising of Walker is totally absurd. They lined the Capitol building with his supporters for this speech, and you seem to think that equates to "greatness"? What an ass.

It's embarrassing when Republicans who haven't accomplished anything yet are overpraised. We're very accomplishment oriented, we Democrats. That's why we elected Barack Obama president and celebrate people who would rather chant juvenile slogans than work. Of course our slogan chanters must be paid more and retire sooner than everyone else. There have to be trade-offs you know.

Isn't it funny how college type douchenozzles just hate anyone who didn't go to college...or went to too many colleges....or who went to the "wrong" college. They just have to attack them with the venom and bile that they would never vent on terrorists or child molestors.

Another portion of this budget that hasn't been mentioned was Walker cutting the early release program for prisoners--that's going to cost this state millions of dollars. Up to 3,000 were eligible every year, and now they'll all be back in prison, costing us tens of thousands of dollars each year.

Study after study has shown that rehabilitation, not incarceration, is the best way to cut down on crime.

Not everyone on this blog may be from Wisconsin, but the people who live there voted Walker into office along with those Republicans..to cut spending. That is why they are there...if the Democrats had not made such a fine mess of things a guy like this would never have won in the first place..so maybe you should save some of that snark for your side.

And isn't it amusing how this dunce - Walker - keeps beating them at every turn?

Right now the Senate Democrats are trying to save face and come creeping back to Madison. Four of them met with the Senate Majority Leader in Kenosha, WI to discuss a compromise. Walker didn't have any of them detained and brought to Madison even though he had to be aware of the meeting.

A huge UCLA Study was the one that concluded that rehabilitation saved money--I believe that $2.50 was saved for every dollar spent per person in the program vs. leaving them in prison.

Additionally, there have been a number of collaborative studies regarding juvenile incarceration--Columbia, Temple, Carnegie Mellon and Florida did a huge one. Northeastern also conducted another very well-known study in the late 90s confirming this.

I know you hate learning things that are adverse to your beliefs, but you need to try to educate yourself. Speak to any Crim Law professor about what's more successful--rehabilitation or incarceration--and they will ALL confirm what I've said. Most crimes are for drugs and usually aren't violent, and we shouldn't be wasting our money keeping those people in prison.

Little Ricky said...Speak to any Crim Law professor about what's more successful--rehabilitation or incarceration--and they will ALL confirm what I've said.

Ask any cop or taxpayer for that matter and they will say that keeping criminals in prison longer is money well spent. We can do with a lot fewer Crim Law professors if it keeps more drug dealers, rapists and child molestors in prison.

Trooper perhaps if you try on a different dress you can get a wink and nod. Meanwhile I will continue to help my students get scholarships and jobs, but if all else fails, I can go back to my earlier career in TV news, by some standards, I see all that I need to do that is a Flip camera and some hot air.

But roachy I am worried about you man. I don't want you to lose your job. If the blogger lady has any pull she should use it to make sure you are ok.

I know you will continue to do a good job falsifying records and giving your students the answers so your test scores will be right up there just like that union guy in New York who complained about how small his quail lunch turned out to be.

But I am glad you can go back to TV News. Say hello to Mare and Lou and Murray and all the gang. Rhoda sends her regards from NYC by the way I just saw her at the deli.

I've said this before, in the context of a neighbor I saw in tears (of joy) at a John Kerry rally (Really!) but I will never understand people -- even fellow politicians -- who get so jazzed up over a politician.

I'd be very curious to learn the standards and policies of official joke blogs.

The Internet Joke Blog certification program was started in 2004 by the Institute for Progressive Hipster Douches. The certification provides a convenience way for hipsters and progressives to disregard any data or opinions that they come across on the Internet that might conflict with their confirmation bias. In the event of such unreconcilable info, a hipster/progressive has merely to consult the Hivemind and determine if the blog in question:a. Is officially a jokeb. Links to Fox (Faux) Newsc. Is written by partisan hacks (the bad kind, duh!)d. Does not believe that Sarah Palin is worst than Hitler

At which point any facts presented need not even be addressed and you can go back to your normal appeal to authority arguments, since you didn't get that liberal arts degree for nothing.

Technically Ann should put a little icon on the homepage to save the hippies' time.

I thought that the whole idea of changing the union rules was to enable those who have to decide how to budget with the necessary cuts in their funding to do so without needing to lay off teachers and others. So...

"UWLS will have to cut 10% of its tenured faculty. Still applauding?"

To what extent is THIS a choice made by the unions?

Did they think that if they cried and fussed that the governor and the others elected to impose financial responsibility on state government would just... give up?

Or maybe they don't really care too much if some people have to give up their jobs so long as the union organization and all of its salaried employees and real property are secure.

When garage starts trumpeting the latest PPP poll that says WI would vote for the Demo over Walker, someone please direct him to Professor Jacobson, who looked under the hood and found, Kell Sir Prize!, that the sample had been skewed against Walker supporters.

Study after study has shown that rehabilitation, not incarceration, is the best way to cut down on crime.

It's already been mentioned, but this other thing called real life confirms that the way to cut down on crime is to put and keep criminals in jail. The way New York City was cleaned up was to focus exactly on legitimate by minor crimes. Put those people in jail and you also cut down serious crime dramatically because there is really a very small percentage of people who are willing and able to commit crime. And they do all the crime.

But keep citing "studies," you unserious fools. The part about criminal law professors was especially rich, by the way. Just what do criminal law professors know about preventing crime? Next, you should ask an economist about preventing supply and demand.

I don't know about that but I did get video of a Democratic assemblyman going ass over teakettle as he tripped on a pile of peace signs and crappy clutter, trying to get to center of the rotunda to address his deranged despondent people. He'll probably sue the state of Wisconsin for a slip and fall.

Anytime someone starts throwing out terms like "collaborative" studies, I assume them to be government hacks and lifetime bureaucrats.

I've been around enough of them to recognize the jargon.

I may not be from Wisconsin, but I am very interested in seeing Walker succeed. My State (California) is in much deeper dog doo than yours and we desperately need an example of leadership and push back against the corruption of Government Unions.

Yeah, Rick. I understand you're a Democrat and all ut really, lighten up on the hate. I mean, I understand that you guys founded the KKK and that Lester Maddox, Orville Faubus, Bull Connor and pretty much every other villain of the Civil Rights era was a Democrat, just like you. But all that hate all the time just can't be good for you. OK, OK, as a Democrat hate is in your DNA. But, seriously, get some medication or something. That hate is going to eat you alive. Silly hateful Klucker.

Real life and results trumps collaborative studies and talking to Criminal Law professors about the success of rehabilitation vs incarceration in the relative safety of their university/college offices.

I will have more respect for the people who wrote the studies and the Criminal Law Professors if they spend long hours with the cops patrolling real crime areas and spending time with prison guards in state penitentiaries interacting with real criminals instead of cherry picking data to support their conclusions.

Seventeen Presidents were state governors, plus three others were governors of territories (Jackson, Florida; Harrison, Indiana; and Taft was governor of the Philippines when it became a U.S. territory.)